The Unimportant Person

The Unimportant Person - John 4:27-41 - October 21, 2012

Brad Paisley sings a song called, “What If She’s An Angel?” And maybe you’ve heard, and maybe you haven’t, if I could sing it for you, I would, but since I can’t, I’m just going to read you the lyrics. This is how it goes …

There's a man standing on the corner

With a sign sayin "will work for food"

You know the man

You see him every morning

The one you never give your money to

You can sit there with your window rolled up

Wondering when the lights going to turn green

Never knowing what a couple more bucks

In his pocket might mean

What if he's an angel sent here from heaven

And he's making certain that you're doing your best

To take the time to help one another

Brother are you going to pass that test?

You can go on with your day to day

Trying to forget what you saw in his face

Knowing deep down it could have been his saving grace

What if he's an angel?

There's a man

And there's a woman

Living right above you in apartment G

There's alot of noise coming through the ceiling

And it don't sound like harmony

You can sit there with your TV turned up

While the words and his anger fly

Come tomorrow when you see her with her shades on

Can you look her in the eye?

What if she's an angel sent here from heaven

And she's making certain that you're doing your best

To take the time to help one another

Brother are you going to pass that test?

You can go on with your day to day

Trying to forget what you saw in her face

Knowing deep down it could have been her saving grace

What if she's an angel?

A little girl on daddy's lap

Hiding her disease with a baseball cap

You can turn the channel

Most people do

But what if you were sitting in her daddy's shoes?

Maybe she's an angel

Sent here from Heaven

And she's making certain you're doing your best

To take the time to help one another

Brother are you going to pass that test

You can go on with your day to day

Trying to forget what you saw in her face

Knowing deep down it could have been her saving grace

What if she's an angel?

[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/what-if-shes-an-angel-lyrics-brad-paisley.html ]

You could change the channel – most people do. … Friends, who are the people that we don’t make time for? Those whom we overlook? Those whom we look through, look past, walk by and choose not to see? Although we might never speak these words what we’re really saying when we do, is this: “You’re not important to me. Your life doesn’t matter. I just don’t care enough to be bothered.”

The unimportant person. The world is full of them, isn’t it? The African woman whose body is wasting away as she lies in a hospital bed dying of AIDS. The hundreds of thousands of street children in Brazil. Those who live in the shanty towns in Mexico scavenging out of the garbage dumps. The eccentric widower around the corner who no-one ever talks to. The alcoholic single mother down the street who is struggling to raise four kids. The fourteen year old girl who has just had an abortion. The eight year old boy trying his first joint. The prostitute on the street corner. Those who grieve the loss of loved ones alone. The unimportant. Those whom society turns a blind eye to. Those whom we would rather pretend we don’t see - like the homeless man on the street. Perhaps the unimportant people in your life are those who make you uncomfortable because they are different from you. They believe differently than you do, dress differently, they act differently, they are older or younger than you are. Perhaps they scare you, perhaps you just don’t have any idea how to relate to them.

Let’s go back to the Gospel of John again. Turn with me, please to John 4, and we’re going to hear how the Samaritan woman’s encounter with Jesus played out. John 4 beginning in verse 19 and we’ll see if this give us some perspective on the unimportant people in our lives:

“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am He.” Just then His disciples returned and were surprised to find Him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” They came out of the town and made their way toward Him. Meanwhile His disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then His disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought Him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”” (John 4:19–38, NIV84)